The answer
The believer feels that he is in communion with his brothers and sisters in prayer even in his private room, and thus he prays for all and asks for their prayers on his behalf. St. Basil wrote to one of the widows, “be mindful of God and have the fear of Him in your heart, and invite all to a union with you in your prayers. For great is the assistance of those who are able to move God.”85
St. Ambrose says, “For if according to the Lord’s saying, that that which two shall have agreed upon on earth concerning anything which they shall ask, shall be done for them, as He says, by My Father, Who is in heaven, for: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matt. 18:19) … how much less, where the full congregation is gathered in the Name of the Lord. Where the demand of all is unanimous, ought we to doubt that the Lord Jesus is there as the Author of that desire, and the Hearer of the petition.”86
“Believe, then, that the Lord Jesus is present at the invocation of the priest, Who said: ‘For where two or three are, there I am also’ (Matt. 18:20). How much where the Church is, and where His Mysteries are, does He vouchsafe to impart His presence!”87
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
85 St. Basil of Caesarea, Letters 1–185 174 (FOTC 13:337).
86 St. Ambrose of Milan, Letters 63.3 (NPNF II/10:457).
87 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Mysteries 5.27 (NPNF II/10:320).